(Reuters) - Militants killed two Saudi border guards and their commanding officer on the frontier with Iraq early on Monday, the interior ministry said, in a suicide and gun attack one analyst called Islamic State's first assault on the kingdom.

The boundary, defended by earth barriers and fences and monitored by cameras and radar, has been attacked in the past by mortar bombs fired from a distance, but there have been no ground assaults in recent years.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, which hit a remote desert area next to Iraq's Anbar province where both the Islamic State militant group and Shi'ite Muslim militias close to Riyadh's foe Iran operate.

The use of a suicide bomber pointed to Islamic State, said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security analyst with close ties to Saudi Arabia's interior ministry.

"It is the first attack by Islamic State itself against Saudi Arabia and is a clear message after Saudi Arabia entered the international coalition against it," he said.

Saudi forces have joined U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State positions in Syria.

The Sunni Islamist movement, which has declared its own caliphate and wants to redraw the map of the Middle East, has called for "lone-wolf" attacks against Saudi security forces, the Shi'ite Muslim minority and foreigners.

Islamic State sees Saudi Arabia's links to the West as a betrayal of Islam. Riyadh, which sees itself as a champion of Sunni Islam, has mobilized conservative Sunni clergy to describe the ideology of the al Qaeda offshoot as "deviant" and they condemned the attack in a statement later on Monday.

SENIOR OFFICER KILLED

The Interior Ministry said it would not know which group was responsible until it had identified the remains of the attackers, a process it said would take some time.

However it described them as "kharijites", members of an early Islamic sect seen by most modern Muslims as extremist, and which senior Saudis have previously compared to Islamic State.

The four raiders carried assault rifles, handguns, hand grenades and bank notes, the ministry said in a statement on state media.

They shot at a border patrol near Arar and when security officers responded, one of the attackers was captured and detonated an explosives belt, the ministry added.

One of those killed was General Oudah al-Belawi, the senior border guard in Northern Borders province, which covers most of Saudi Arabia's frontier with Iraq.

The attacker who detonated the explosives was killed, as was another attacker who was shot during an initial exchange of fire at 4.30am near the Suweif border post, the statement said.

Two other militants were later killed trying to escape, ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki told Reuters.

Saudi Arabia boosted its security on the frontier in July, adding thousands of troops to back up a border guards force, after Islamic State seized swathes of territory in Iraq including in Anbar province.

The Suweif border post, which Reuters visited in July and is only open to traffic during the annual haj pilgrimage, is 40 km (25 miles) from the Saudi city of Arar and 80 km from the Iraqi city of al-Nukhayb, which is held by the government.

Riyadh said last month that the killing of eight Shi'ites in al-Ahsa province was carried out by gunmen linked to Islamic State, and that supporters of the group were also behind the shooting of a Danish citizen in November who survived.

"There is none worthy of worship but He, glorified be He: [Far is He] above that which they associate [with Him]" (Qur'an 9:31)

Not equal are the owners of the fire and the owners of the Garden. The owners of the Garden, they are the victorious. [Quran 59:20]

Allah knows best [who are] your enemies. Allah is sufficient as a Friend, and Allah is sufficient as a Helper. [4:45]

Fudayl ibn Iyaad said: "Verily, if an action was done sincerely for the sake of Allah but was not correct, it will not be accepted by Allah. And if the action was correct but not done sincerely it will not be accepted until the act is sincere and correct. For it to be sincere, it has to be done for the sake of Allah, and in order for it to be correct, it has to agree to the sunnah."

the Messenger of Allah pbuh says; “whoever does not care about the affairs of the Muslims is not one of them.”

So killing of a few soldiers clears saudi hand in the growth of isis in Syria and Iraq. It is difficult to believe so.

What about the ghouta chemical attack in Syria. after things settled down america possibly tried to clear itself by showing others like Russia and China evidence about how saudi etc. organized the chemical wmd attack provoking american attack against Syria and cia didnt know that. but now ironically these client states are now in american use again as top allies in the anti isis operation after the past is forgotten now at least they think so.

This clearly shows that usa organized and client states implemented the ghouta sarin attack. The client states have resources but dont have the intellectual capability to plan it , secondly usa without question was about to attack just doing its role perfectly knowing saudi links and nusra isis chem arsenal, and lastly until now still no response to this war crime and act as if nothing happened.

-If you have faith and put resistance-hard work to it like defending your people or finding a scientific breakthrough then you channel down blessings the more you put resistance-work. If they believe in lies and covering truth then they put resistance for it work for it and cover truth by darkness and lies. The choice is given to us and thus the responsibility.

- Everything is from Allah. There is no other source of power and all causes are from Allah. This way you don't fall into theist or pantheist fatalism immobilising you.

- Submission, acceptance, let go of the roadblocks that we are sticking to the ego,fears,doubts etc.
We are in a constant war with our nefsh and eventualy we will experience death, the ego what we attach to will inevitably be gone whether we want it or not so do not stick to any result within this process.

- In this process desire everything but dependent on nothing without attaching to any cause but Allah. Everything becomes a tool a window for you. One who loves Allah loves everything from Allah. One who desires Allah desires everything from Allah.

- Take action, resist and be a wider channel for the 99 Forces of Allah. Ibadah is all your life process not snapshots of when you do Salat or dzikhr.
Gradually the false consciousness,the lies will melt away and Truth remains. You will experience what you do is from Allah. Then InshAllah you won't feel alone and disconnected.

If you can be selfless there can be wholeness in your conscioussness. If you can handle the internal battle which is the most important then you remove the blocks within the mind and your mind becomes like a channel. You can crush egos, smash idols, reveal the Truth, always transform and improve. Everything becomes possible. Most importantly it is the ego and lies that we are up against and at the essence the aim is to understand and live fully with the conscioussness of there are no many powers, sources of power like ego or images, only Allah. This fact in turn leads us to the point that it is those lies that makes us and the opponent seperate and prior aim should be on changing the opponent without using violence unless it is inevitable.

The Saudis along with other countries in the gulf have been financing terrorism all around the world. Its only natural they reap what they sow.

agree... the Saudis are going to pay for their years of misguided religious ideology.

the dogs of hell are at the gates of the house of saud.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Everybody is entitled to my opinion!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make." -- Lord Farquaad, "Shrek"------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------`Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich.'------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary idea! G.Orwell------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------